Wooden vessel for the aging of liquid

ABSTRACT

A uniquely designed rectangular vessel has been developed for storing and aging liquids—commonly wine and spirits. Its economical and simplistic design offers significant benefits over the use of traditional barrels and other previously proposed arts. Constructed from wood (generally oak), its inner surfaces have been modified to maximize end grain exposure thus significantly reducing the required aging period. In addition, this vessel&#39;s inner surface area to volume ratio (directly related to the wood&#39;s extraction concentration within the liquid) can be adjusted to meet the user&#39;s specific needs.

BACKGROUND

The art and methodology of aging liquids in wooden containers has been gradually improved upon since the appearance of the first barrel. Each attempt at improvement has focused on only a small spectrum of the overall process. With technical advancements in fabrication techniques, as well as a better understanding of the science behind the aging process, it is now possible to truly improve upon the overall design for wooden containers meant for aging.

SUMMARY

This vessel's targeted audiences are those who seek to impart the qualities of oak, or other types of wood, into their liquid products, such as wine and spirits, through the process of aging. As a beverage maker, the ability to conserve liquid product, create a unique taste, increase production rate, conserve storage space during the aging process, and maintain a financial advantage are all key elements to the success of their business. This vessel's unmatched ability to overcome a wide range of challenges is what sets it apart from the previously proposed arts.

The primary goal of this vessel is to offer a comprehensive solution to the food/beverage industry as well as the household entrepreneur affording them the ability to maximize their production with an accelerated, simple, reliable, and cost effective method for aging liquids in a wooden vessel. For several decades, the oak barrel has been the only means for aging liquids within wooden containers. While the oak barrel offers many advantages (such as internal volume or durability), its ability to accommodate all the modern-day demands is lacking.

The driving objectives behind this uniquely designed vessel are to decrease the product's aging period, increase the product's concentration (via increased internal surface area to volume ratio of the vessel), reduce the amount of liquid product required by the beverage maker, maintain the integrity of the vessel, conserve storage space while the product is aging, ease of fabrication/assembly, and lower the cost to distribute these vessels. While other proposals have claimed to solve these concerns, their solutions did not completely address the problem or inadvertently hindered other aspects of the overall design.

DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of the 6 members that comprise this vessel.

FIG. 2 is an isometric view of a top/bottom member.

Section I-I is a cross section view taken from line I-I of FIG. 2.

FIG. 3 is a detailed view of Section II.

FIG. 4 is an isometric view of a side member.

Section II-II is a cross section view taken from line II-II of FIG. 4.

FIG. 5 is a detailed view of Section II-II.

FIG. 6 is a top view of the assembled vessel.

FIG. 7 is an isometric view of the assembled vessel

FIG. 8 is an isometric view of the vessel with a bottom and side member hidden for clarity.

FIG. 9 is a side view of the vessel with a side member hidden for clarity.

DESCRIPTION

This design combines the ease of fabrication and assembly with the latest techniques for aging liquids in a wooden vessel.

This rectangular vessel is constructed from solid wood (generally oak) and consists of 6 sides (i.e. members)—A top/bottom (1), two sides (2), and two head plates (3). To simplify the fabrication of the vessel, the top and bottom members are identical, the two side members are identical, and the two head plates are identical. Dimensionally the head plates are identical, but one head plate has a hole in its center to act as the bunghole (4). A “croze” is formed at both ends of the vessel by the grooves (6) cut into the top, bottom, and side members. The head plates fit within this “croze” once all members are assembled (FIG. 6). The vessel is bound around the exterior grooves (7) with cord or other mechanical means (8) to further secure and compress the sealing surfaces of the vessel. No adhesives or metallic fasteners are used to assemble this vessel to preserve the oaks integrity and protect the liquid product.

From FIG. 3 and FIG. 5, the depth of the cross grain cut (C) and the depth of the “croze” groove (F) should not exceed 40% of the overall thickness of the member (A) to ensure the vessel remains integral. In addition, the height of the cross grain cut (B) should be tall enough to allow liquid to completely fill the void. Furthermore, the distance between cross grain cuts (E) should be at least twice the penetration depth of liquid into the oak. If this dimension (E) becomes too small, a false representation of surface area will be calculated due to over-saturation. The “croze” height (D) should be the exact thickness of the head plates to form a liquid-tight seal. Specific to FIG. 3, the exterior groove height (H) and depth (I) should be large enough to conceal the means of compression within the exterior envelope of the vessel. It should be noted that the minimum vessel thickness (G) should not be less than 2.5 times the liquid penetration depth into the wood.

The proposal to increasing internal surface area by making cross grain cuts is not a new concept. The essential difference that distinguishes this design is that this vessel's integrity has not been compromised by the addition of these cross grain cuts. Other arts have proposed to cut the inside of a standard oak barrel to achieve this increased surface area. The standard oak barrel is comprised of many wooden staves that rely on compression to their neighboring stave to form its liquid-tight seal. If cross grain cuts are made to these staves, the critical sealing surface between staves is decreased and therefore compromises the barrel's ability to remain liquid-tight. In addition, staves are subject to a harsh forming process while shaping the curvature of a barrel. By removing material from a stave, the structural integrity of the barrel has been weakened. This vessel's design has cross cuts that do not encroach upon any sealing surfaces (FIG. 2 and FIG. 4) allowing this vessel to maintain the highest level of integrity while increasing its internal surface area.

The vessel's inner surfaces (except the head plates) have series of cross grain cuts (5). Each cut into the face grain exposes two end grain surfaces and increases the overall internal surface area of the vessel. The ability to decrease the necessary aging period is directly related to the amount of surface area, but more importantly, the amount of end grain exposure. Since “the speed of liquid penetration into wood is a limitation factor for the extraction of wood compounds”¹, the faster the liquid product can penetrate the wood, the less time is required to fully age the product. The liquid penetration rate into end grain is substantially faster than the penetration rate into face grain. This is due to end grain surfaces exposing the wood's vascular openings which were once used to transport water through the living tree. Therefore, if a vessel has maximized its end grain exposure while remaining economical to manufacture, a beverage maker could move product quicker and more efficiently.

Another factor that contributes to the decreased aging period is a container's surface area to volume ratio. As mentioned above, previous proposals have modified the inner surface of standard oak barrels to increase their surface area. However, with a standard barrel (depending upon the type of barrel) holding approximately 60 gallons, it is difficult to increase this crucial ratio when dealing with such large volumes. By decreasing the internal volume and maximizing the amount of surface area, this vessel is able to achieve a surface area to volume ratio that is over 30 times greater than a standard barrel's ratio. Therefore a beverage maker could age 6 gallons of product at 10 times the concentration of wood extractions (i.e. 10 times the surface are to volume ratio) and have the equivalent of 60 gallons of “normally age” product. This would save the beverage maker 54 gallons of product.

Previously proposed methods have suggested the addition of wood chips, complex apparatuses, or “tea bags” to increase the surface area to volume ratio within a barrel. The disadvantages of these methods include an unknown amount of surface area that has been added to the liquid, the cost of manufacturing a complex insert, or the addition of non-oak material entering the container which could negatively impact the liquid product. This vessel's solid wood planks can be quickly and easily fabricated to maximize the end grain surface added to the vessel. In addition, by adding a known amount of planks to this vessel (which would decreases the internal volume), a simple calculation can be made to determine the new surface area to volume ratio.

A unique customization feature of this vessel is its ability to meet the beverage maker's specific requirements for concentration of their product. Additional surface area can be added in the form of end grain planks (9) installed within the side member's (2) cross grain cuts (5). Due to the side members being identically fabricated, flat planks fit in a secured position parallel to the head plates. Since the grooves do not consume the entire cross-section of the vessel, the maximum number of plates can be installed without restricting the vessel's ability to be filled or drained completely (FIG. 9). To further customize this vessel, the internal surfaces as well as the additional planks can be toasted or charred to the end users specifications to enhance the color and flavor the liquid product.

Due to this simplistic design, assembly does not have to occur at the vessel's place of fabrication. Unlike a standard oak barrel where up to 30 perfectly matched staves must be artistically shaped and assembled, this vessel's 6 members can be assembled with little effort or instructional guide. This vessel can be distributed to its destination disassembled, saving on shipping costs, and the end user can assemble the vessel with minimal complications. In addition, by assembling only 6 members opposed to the standard oak barrel's 30 staves, the number of potential leaks due to a mismatched sealing surface is drastically reduced.

At the beverage maker's facility, available storage area while aging their product will always be a concern. If a standard oak barrel is being used to age their product (depending upon the type of barrel), approximately 14.77 ft³ of storage space will be consumed. The cylindrical geometry of a standard barrel bears the disadvantage of unutilized space when stacked. However, with this vessel's geometry being that of a rectangular prism, multiple vessels can be stored together without wasted space. With outer dimension of 7″×8″×30″ and an inner volume of slightly over 4 gallons, 15 vessels can be put together occupying 14.58 ft³ (0.19 ft³ less than a standard barrel) and contain a similar volume of product.

REFERENCES CITED

U.S. Patent Documents 1200581 October 1916 Brown 1890597 December 1932 Bishop 1978811 October 1934 Muller 2079378 May 1937 Mills 2105693 January 1938 Jones et al. 2289245 July 1942 Dant 2649124 August 1953 Merron 3106885 October 1963 Kelley 3372633 March 1968 Horlander, Jr. 3842723 October 1974 Boucher 4093099 June 1978 Spooner 4998643 March 1991 Pradel 5174461 December 1992 Sullivan 5537913 July 1996 Vowles D476058 June 2003 Norton 7762179 July 2010 Eustis 8381926 February 2013 Kenealy et al. 8689678 April 2014 Eustis 9032864 May 2015 Roleder 9212343 December 2015 Karasch et al.

OTHER REFERENCES

-   ¹ http://www.practicalwinery.com/winter2013/staves1.htm 

1. A 6-sided rectangular vessel comprised of 3 identical wooden members that when assembled form a liquid-tight container. The top and bottom members (identical) have grooves by which the 2 side members (identical) fit within. Two head plates (identical, with the exception of a hole in one head plate for filling the vessel) fit within the grooves created with the union of the top, bottom, and side members. Shallow grooves around the exterior of the vessel's top and bottom member provide a location for means of compression without protruding outside the vessel's exterior envelope. The top, bottom, and both side members have cross grain cuts which expose the wood's end grain without encroaching upon the vessel's sealing surfaces. Additional planks of wood can be inserted and supported by internal cross grain cuts allowing for a measurable increase to the vessel's internal surface area to volume ratio. Ability to produce higher concentrations of wooden extract within the aged liquid at accelerated rates. Vessel can be shipped and distributed unassembled. Vessel assembly does not require a skilled tradesman, such as a cooper or barrel maker. 